Deaths do NOT come in threes. Yet educated adults still believe this. Around the world, about 106 people die per minute.
This means over 153,000 per day. Therefore, how on earth do deaths come in threes?
The way this works is that famous people die in threes — allegedly.
But this is STILL not true. There’s a very logical reason why, yet it escapes most people.
Over the years, it has often seemed that famous people die in threes — in that when a person who is very well-known dies, then very soon after, two more celebrity people end up passing away.
But this observation is heavily flawed.
Let’s suppose a famous woman named Kim dies. The whole world will know this within an hour.
Two weeks later, a very famous man named Chris croaks.
And three weeks later, the famous Bill passes away.
So there are your deaths of famous people that came in three: Kim, Chris and Bill.
All the “nobodies” who died in between the deaths of Kim and Bill don’t count, because the “deaths come in threes” thing applies only to famous people. And therein lies the problem.
In this hypothetical scenario, the whole planet knows whom Kim was.
Half the planet knows whom Chris was. And only 75% knew whom Bill was even though he was “world famous.”
Thus, for all those populations who never heard of Chris or Bill, there was only one famous death: Kim.
So to Maria in the Czech Republic, only one famous death occurred: Kim’s.
To Sam in Greenland, only two occurred: Kim’s and Bill’s.
And to Sina in Western Samoa, nobody famous died, because she never heard of any of these three people.
Thus, by WHOSE decision do deaths come in threes?
Is it the person who lives in the most powerful nation?
The person who lives in Micronesia?
The person who lives in a remote tribal community with little contact to the outside world?
Who decides when deaths come in threes if it’s all based on fame?
If three famous people die within 30 days, and yet I’ve heard of only two of them, does this mean that for me, death didn’t come in a trio — but to someone else who’s heard of all three, death did come in a trio?
What a whacky way to look at things.
The second flaw is just who decides who’s famous enough to qualify as part of a deceased trio?
Where does one draw the line as to who’s famous or a celebrity and who isn’t?
There’ve been a number of celebrities I’ve never heard of until they died. But to their fans, they were huge.
What is the cutoff point?
What’s the cutoff point that determines celebrity status vs. “nobody” status? Adele is famous. We all know Adele, right?
Let’s suppose two internationally famous people die within a few weeks of each other.
Most people in industrialized countries know whom these individuals were, so in their minds, a third famous person will soon die, because — after all — deaths of famed people come in threes.
And then Adele sadly passes away. But wait … Adele is famous only in the state that she anchored the local news for 30 years: Adele Arakawa from Colorado.
She was a local news anchor who’d also been pitching on TV for a local furniture store. This background made her a celebrity, right?
So for residents of Colorado, this particular Adele completes the deceased trio.
Yet for those who don’t live in Colorado and hence, never heard of her, the trio has yet to be completed.
Do you see just how silly this whole thing is? And by the way, Adele Arakawa is alive (as of the publication date of this post); I used her only as an example to throw readers off with her first name.
The final flaw is just who gets to decide what time passage qualifies for the trio?
- Must all three die within 45 days?
- Is the cutoff point 60 days?
- How about 72 days?
- Or is it 30 days?
- What determines the timeframe in which three deaths “came together”?
Bottom line: Deaths do not come in threes — whether for “nobodies” or any level of celebrity status. They come at almost two per second, according to the World Death Clock.
